Setting Up a Partner Company

Feature Overview

Intercompany trading requires two Business Central companies — often in different environments — to agree on how they identify each other and how orders and documents will flow between them. This feature covers that agreement: creating the local Intercompany Partner record that represents your trading partner, configuring how you connect to them, and deciding what each side is allowed to see and do.

There are two distinct setup paths. The Intercompany Setup Guide is a one-time assisted wizard that gets a single company ready for Intercompany the first time: it decides whether the company is acting as a Sales Company (the company placing orders, receiving goods) or a Supply Company (the company holding inventory, fulfilling orders), creates the matching Customer or Vendor record, creates the Intercompany Partner record, and optionally maps the chart of accounts. The Connection Setup Guide ("Connect Externally Setup") is used per partner, any time you need to link to a partner in a different Business Central environment: it walks through exchanging connection URLs and Microsoft Entra (Azure AD) app credentials, and lets you test the connection before saving.

Once a partner exists, day-to-day configuration happens on the Intercompany Partner Card, which Intercompany extends with automation and permission settings, plus two related setup lists: which of your locations the partner is allowed to see, and which custom fields should travel with documents to and from that partner.


Pages to use	Intercompany Setup Guide, IC Partner Card, Connection Setup Guide, IC Partner Locations, IC Partner Custom Fields
Entity types supported	Intercompany Partner, Customer, Vendor, Location
Key configuration fields	Intercompany Partner Code, Inbox Handling, Price Source on Inbound Orders, IC Discount %, Auto-Release settings
Integration points	Automatic Order Creation Between Companies (the automation flags set here control it), Sending & Receiving Documents Automatically (the connection this feature creates is what that traffic uses), Keeping Item & Stock Data in Sync (partner locations control what's visible)

Getting Started

In the company that will trade with a partner for the first time, run the Intercompany Setup Guide from the Assisted Setup list.
Choose whether this company is a Sales Company (the company placing orders, receiving goods) or a Supply Company (the company holding inventory, fulfilling orders).
Enter your own Intercompany Partner Code — the code the partner will use to identify you — and the partner's Intercompany Partner Code.
Depending on the company type, configure the matching Intercompany Vendor (Sales Company) or Intercompany Customer (Supply Company), including its Posting Group and Location Code.
Choose whether to map your chart of accounts to the partner's (only relevant if both companies share the same chart).
If this is a Supply Company, select which of your Locations the partner may see and order from.
Complete the wizard — this creates the Intercompany Partner record and the standard IC Setup for your company.
Open the new partner's IC Partner Card and, in the Connection group, run Connect Externally Setup if the partner is in a different environment.
In the Connection Setup Guide, exchange connection URLs, Web Service Instance/Tenant, and Microsoft Entra Client ID/Secret/Token Endpoint with the partner, then use Test Connection before finishing.
Back on the IC Partner Card, review the automation settings under When I send orders to this partner / When orders arrive from this partner and set them to match how you want transactions to flow.

Related Features

Setting up a partner is the prerequisite for everything else Intercompany does. Automatic Order Creation Between Companies reads the auto-release and auto-post settings configured here to decide how much of the order flow happens without manual intervention. Sending & Receiving Documents Automatically uses the connection details (URL, tenant, credentials) established here to actually move documents. Keeping Item & Stock Data in Sync is scoped by the partner locations configured on this partner. Cross-Company Invoicing relies on the Customer/Vendor and posting group setup done during onboarding to post correctly.

User Stories

Set up this company for Intercompany trading for the first time

As a consultant configuring a new Business Central company for Intercompany
I want to run a guided setup that creates the required customer/vendor, partner, and setup records
So that the company is ready to trade with a partner without manually creating each record

Setup:

Open the Intercompany Setup Guide from Assisted Setup.
Select the Intercompany type (Sales Company or Supply Company).
Fill in your own Intercompany Partner Code and the partner's code.
Complete the vendor/customer, posting group, and location steps as prompted.
Select Create to generate the records.

Note: The wizard must be completed in both companies that will trade with each other — running it in only one company is not sufficient.

Reuse an existing Vendor, Customer, or Partner instead of creating a new one

As a consultant who already has a Vendor/Customer/Partner record for this trading relationship
I want to point the setup guide at the existing record instead of creating a duplicate
So that existing history and settings are preserved

Setup:

In the relevant step of the Intercompany Setup Guide, enter the existing Vendor No., Customer No., or Intercompany Partner Code.
When prompted that the record already exists, choose whether to modify the existing record with the wizard's values or leave it and let the wizard skip creation.

Note: Choosing to modify will overwrite posting groups and location code on the existing record with the values entered in the wizard.

Map the chart of accounts between two companies sharing the same G/L structure

As a consultant setting up two companies with an identical chart of accounts
I want to automatically create matching IC G/L Account entries
So that intercompany G/L transactions post correctly without manual account mapping

Setup:

During the Intercompany Setup Guide, on the G/L Account Mapping step, enable Create IC G/L Account Entries?.
Complete the wizard.

Note: This creates a 1-to-1 mapping using each account's own number — only use this when both companies use the same chart of accounts.

Make all items immediately orderable through the intercompany vendor

As a consultant configuring a Sales Company
I want to add the intercompany vendor to every existing item
So that items can be ordered from the supply partner without editing each item individually

Setup:

During the Intercompany Setup Guide (Sales Company type), on the Item Vendor step, enable Create Item Vendor Entries?.
Complete the wizard.

Connect to a partner company in a different Business Central environment

As a consultant linking to a partner outside this tenant
I want to exchange connection and authentication details through a guided wizard
So that the two environments can communicate without manually configuring web service records

Setup:

Open the partner's IC Partner Card.
Select Connect Externally Setup.
Note your own company's Connection URL, Web Service Instance, and Web Service Tenant shown on the first step, and share them with the partner.
Enter the partner's Connection URL, Web Service Instance, Web Service Tenant, and Company Name as provided by them.
Enter the Microsoft Entra (Azure AD) app registration's Client ID, Client Secret, and Token Endpoint that will be used to authenticate to the partner.
Select Test Connection and confirm it succeeds.
Select Finish to save.

Note: The connection details entered must not be identical to your own company's — the wizard blocks saving a partner that points at itself.

Verify a partner connection is still working

As a consultant troubleshooting a partner that has stopped exchanging documents
I want to manually re-test the connection
So that I can confirm whether the problem is authentication/connectivity or something else

Setup:

Open the partner's IC Partner Card.
Select Test connection (IC Partner action group).

Note: A successful test only confirms the web service call succeeds — it does not confirm document content or business logic further down the chain (see Monitoring & Resolving Exceptions).

Choose how incoming transactions from a partner are handled

As a consultant configuring a partner
I want to control whether incoming transactions are processed manually, on a schedule, or immediately
So that processing matches how quickly the business needs transactions turned around

Setup:

On the IC Partner Card, in the Connection group, set Inbox Handling to No Handling, Handle with Job Queue, or Handle with Web Service.

Note: Handle with Web Service pushes transactions through in real time; Handle with Job Queue relies on a scheduled background job; No Handling requires someone to process the inbox manually.

Automatically release outbound purchase orders to a supply partner

As a consultant in a Sales Company
I want to have the purchase order automatically released and sent once the matching sales order is released
So that staff don't have to manually release each purchase order

Setup:

On the IC Partner Card (Sales Company), under When I send orders to this partner, enable Auto-Release Outbound Purchase Order.

Automatically release inbound sales orders received from a partner

As a consultant in a Supply Company
I want to have sales orders created from the IC inbox automatically released
So that they are immediately ready for picking and shipment without manual review

Setup:

On the IC Partner Card (Supply Company), under When orders arrive from this partner, enable Auto-Release Inbound Sales Order.

Control which price is used on an inbound sales order

As a consultant in a Supply Company
I want to choose whether the sales order uses my own prices, the price sent by the sales company, or zero profit
So that intercompany pricing matches the commercial agreement between the companies

Setup:

On the IC Partner Card (Supply Company), set Price Source on Inbound Orders to Normal sales prices, Accept prices from IC customer, or Zero Profit.

Note: "Accept prices from IC customer" requires the sales company to actually send its price — see the Sales Company's IC Discount % setting (US-11).

Apply a fixed intercompany discount when sending orders to a supply partner

As a consultant in a Sales Company
I want to apply a fixed discount percentage when sending orders to the supply partner
So that an agreed transfer price is used automatically

Setup:

On the IC Partner Card (Sales Company), set IC Discount % to the agreed percentage.
Set Discount Price Basis to control whether the discount applies to the purchase price or the sales price sent.

Note: For the discount to take effect on the receiving side, the supply partner's Price Source on Inbound Orders must be set to Accept prices from IC customer.

Automatically post purchase receipts and journal lines from a partner

As a consultant in a Sales Company
I want to have purchase receipts and intercompany journal lines post automatically on receipt
So that inventory and financial postings stay current without manual posting

Setup:

On the IC Partner Card (Sales Company), under When I receive documents from this partner, enable Auto-Post Purchase Receipt.
Under When orders arrive from this partner (Supply Company side of a matching relationship) or the equivalent group, enable Post IC Journal Lines and select the IC Journal Template and IC Journal Batch to post to.

Automatically send shipments, invoices, and credit memos to a partner

As a consultant in a Supply Company
I want to have posted shipments, invoices, and credit memos automatically sent to the sales partner
So that the partner receives documents without a manual export step

Setup:

On the IC Partner Card (Supply Company), under Documents Sent to Partner, enable Auto-Send Shipment to Partner, Auto-Send Invoice to Partner, and/or Auto-Send Credit Memo to Partner as needed.

Allow the supply partner to adjust quantity or variant on an inbound order

As a consultant in a Supply Company
I want to allow limited editing of the sales order created from a partner's order
So that stock or variant substitutions can be handled without rejecting the order

Setup:

On the IC Partner Card (Supply Company), under Order Adjustments, enable Allow Quantity Change on Inbound Orders and/or Allow Variant Change on Inbound Orders as needed.

Control which locations a partner is allowed to see and order from

As a consultant managing inventory visibility between companies
I want to restrict which of my locations a specific partner can see stock for and order from
So that partners only interact with the locations relevant to them

Setup:

On the IC Partner Card, select IC Partner Locations.
Add a line per Location the partner should have access to.
Optionally set a location-specific Auto Post Sales Order override and toggle Allow Inventory Lookup.

Note: Auto Post Sales Order at the location is automatically reset to None if the location requires shipment or picking, since those require a physical warehouse step before posting.

Map a custom field to travel with documents sent to or received from a partner

As a consultant with a business requirement to exchange a field not covered by standard Intercompany
I want to configure a custom field mapping for a specific partner
So that the extra data travels with the order without custom development

Setup:

On the IC Partner Card, select IC Partner Custom Fields.
Add a line specifying Direction (Incoming/Outgoing), Document Type, Record Type (Sales/Purchase Header or Line), and the source Field.
For incoming custom fields, optionally enable Validate to run standard field validation when the value is applied.

Note: Custom Field No. above 10 requires the Extended Custom Fields feature to be enabled in IC Setup. Incoming custom values can only be mapped to sales documents — not purchase documents — and Validate cannot be enabled for outgoing fields.

Set the default automatic posting behaviour for sales orders received from a partner

As a consultant in a Supply Company
I want to define a partner-wide default for how far inbound sales orders are auto-posted
So that new locations for this partner inherit a sensible default without configuring each one

Setup:

On the IC Partner Card (Supply Company), set Auto-Post Sales Order to the desired default (e.g. Ship, or Ship and Invoice).

Note: This value is used as the default for new IC Partner Location records (US-15) but can be overridden per location.

Field Reference

Field	Where to find it	What it does	Default value
Intercompany Partner Code (own)	Intercompany Setup Guide	Identifies this company to its trading partners.	(blank)
Intercompany Partner Code (partner's)	Intercompany Setup Guide / IC Partner Card	Identifies the trading partner.	(blank)
Inbox Handling	IC Partner Card (Connection)	Controls whether incoming transactions are handled manually, via job queue, or via web service.	No Handling
Price Source on Inbound Orders	IC Partner Card	Determines which price is used on the sales order created from an inbound order.	Use normal sales prices
IC Discount %	IC Partner Card	Fixed discount percentage applied when sending orders to the supply partner.	0
Discount Price Basis	IC Partner Card	Whether the discount is based on purchase price or sales price.	Purchase Price
Auto-Release Outbound Purchase Order	IC Partner Card	Automatically releases the purchase order when the matching sales order is released.	Disabled
Auto-Release Inbound Sales Order	IC Partner Card	Automatically releases the sales order created from the IC inbox.	Disabled
Auto-Post Purchase Receipt	IC Partner Card	Automatically posts purchase receipts received from the partner.	Disabled
Post IC Journal Lines	IC Partner Card	Automatically posts intercompany journal lines created from inbox transactions.	Disabled
IC Journal Template / IC Journal Batch	IC Partner Card	The journal template and batch used when posting IC journal lines.	(blank)
Auto-Send Shipment / Invoice / Credit Memo to Partner	IC Partner Card	Automatically sends the posted document to the partner.	Disabled
Allow Quantity Change on Inbound Orders	IC Partner Card	Allows editing quantity on an IC sales order line.	Disabled
Allow Variant Change on Inbound Orders	IC Partner Card	Allows editing item variant on an IC sales order line.	Disabled
Auto-Post Sales Order	IC Partner Card	Default auto-post behaviour for inbound sales orders.	None
Location Code (per partner)	IC Partner Locations	A location the partner may see/order from.	(none)
Allow Inventory Lookup	IC Partner Locations	Whether the partner can look up inventory at this location.	Enabled
Direction / Document Type / Record Type / Field No.	IC Partner Custom Fields	Defines a custom field mapping for this partner.	(none)